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MUNCIE, IN – In case you were unaware, this Ball State team is a very different beast all together than the greatest show on field turf that we were all witness to the past several seasons. With inexperience comes mistakes, with mistakes come losses, and today saw the Cards live up to their end of that equation with a 27-20 loss at the hands of in-state rival and FCS member Indiana State.

The Sycamores played like equals if not some times betters, and BSU again found creative ways to wrestle defeat from the jaws of victory. If you had told me before the day started that my day would end with watching the Indiana State coaching staff make their way out of the pressbox dancing and screaming like teenagers at a Taylor Swift concert, I’d say you were crazy. But “crazy” got redefined today.

It was a comedy (or tragedy) depending on your perspective) of errors and oddities all day. For example:

Against an FCS squad, BSU fails to hit the century mark for net yards rushing.

The total offensive yards for both squads? Dead even.

16 total punts? 16 total punts.

BSU defense holds ISU to 3-16 on 3rd downs and 44 net yards rushing.

The storyline of this game (at least to me) was the Indiana State passing game. It was incredibly well-timed and well-executed and Mike Perish is an FBS talent to be sure. He ended up 25-43 for 317 yards and 3 TDs and it felt like significantly more than that. Kudos to ISU for winning the victory bell. They earned it.

We’ll have more on this either later tonight or tomorrow, but for now I’m facing a 5 hour drive and am completely and without question a mixture of anger, disappointment, frustration, and a whole bunch of other things. This one hurts. This one is going to sting for a while. I can’t even imagine how the players and coaches feel.

Fans in the stands? Go nuts. Players on the field? Party on. Coaches in the press box? How about you act like you’ve been there before, act professional, and carry yourself with some modicum of sportsmanship. Like the giant ass sign they ran by and smacked asked them to do.